Renowned paediatricians and medical associations have renewed full support to the Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme to interrupt wild poliovirus transmission this year.

Office-bearers of the Pakistan Paediatrics Association (PPA), Pakistan Islamic Medical Association (PIMA), Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) and their provincial chapters, and doctors, including paediatricians from the seven polio endemic districts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, pledged to promote polio vaccines and routine immunisation at a roundtable meeting held at the National Emergency Operations of Center (NEOC) for Polio Eradication in Islamabad recently.

The meeting was held to rally support from medical professionals to increase vaccine acceptance in parents and caregivers and counter negative misperceptions among communities about vaccines.

The programme is making initiatives to stamp out paralytic poliovirus from Pakistan and efforts to increase community engagement and dialogue.

Repeated immunisations have protected millions of children from polio, allowing almost all countries in the world to become polio-free, besides the two endemic countries of Pakistan and Afghanistan.